


The Hanukkah Bush

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Jewish Character, Gen, Hanukkah, Holidays, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-16 23:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13064205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After Steven spends all night crying about how he wants a Christmas tree for Hanukkah, the Crystal Gems give him one. Greg isn’t happy, and tries to help them understand why Steven can’t have one.





	The Hanukkah Bush

“We’ve been through this, stu-ball, we don’t use those in our decorations.” Greg’s explanation did nothing to appease his upset five-year-old son as he and Steven made their way down the steps of the Crystal Gem temple towards his van.

 

From where she stood on the patio, Pearl crossed her arms, bristling still from Greg’s reaction earlier, when he had walked into the house and panicked at the sight of her and Amethyst setting up a moderately-sized pine tree in the living room. The last time she could remember seeing him so upset was when they had let Steven play around with some of the weapons from Amethyst’s collection, not realizing he was still not at an age where he could step into his Quartz fighting abilities. But Pearl could not see why Greg got so upset about a tree, of all things. She feared she might not ever understand humans. “I really don’t see what the big deal is,” she commented.

 

Greg looked back over his shoulder at Pearl’s dismissive glare. Amethyst mostly just seemed confused, and Garnet, well, Garnet’s reaction was as unreadable as ever. “C’mon, guys, I told you no Christmas trees. Every year for the past three I’ve said, no Christmas trees. I don’t think I ask for a lot here.”

 

“But, Dad, it’s not a Christmas tree,” Steven protested at his side, “It’s a Hanukkah bush!” That just made Greg sigh and rub a hand over his face in fatigue.

 

Leaning over the railing, Amethyst pointed out, “Look, Greg, I don’t care what you guys call it, but he wouldn’t stop crying about it until we got one. All night long, crying and crying, like he was a baby again. I mean, we went through all the trouble of even going out on the warp pad into the woods and cutting one down, because he wouldn’t let Pearl just take the one from Fun Land.”

 

“Well, I care what we call it, and we don’t call it a Hanukkah bush because it’s a Christmas tree,” Greg said in exasperation. Kneeling down on the ground in front of his son, he put his hands on Steven’s shoulders and smiled, hoping it might prove to be contagious. But Steven’s frown only deepened. “C’mon, Steven, after we go out for donuts, how about I let you light the menorah tonight, how does that sound? The menorah’s just as pretty as any old Christmas tree, right?”

 

“But it’s not as pretty as the lights on the tree, like the big one they got up at Fun Land!” whined Steven, his face getting red and puffy.

 

Garnet rubbed a finger under her chin in contemplation, but Pearl shook her head. “I know you humans put a lot of value on your holiday traditions, and Rose got to know your quirks better than I care to learn, but I didn’t see the problem as long as it made Steven happy.”

 

“Well, Steven’s also happy when you let him stay up past midnight eating nothing but junk food, but you gotta step up and lay down some rules sometimes,” retorted Greg. Getting defensive, he said, “You know I’m a pretty easy-going guy, if I can say so myself, but when it comes to this, I really need you guys to back me up here. I don’t know much anything about space alien business, so I trust you to keep Steven safe with that. But for the human stuff, I have the say.”

 

Greg did not like putting his foot down, and he did not think he was being a strict parent with regards to this. He didn’t like to lay a lot of rules, it went against his very core as a free rebel. He didn’t want to be like his family, who could be as restrictive and unsupportive as they were loving. And he hated to see Steven cry. But Greg couldn’t be talked down from this. He could go out on his own, to become the musician his parents never wanted him to be. He could change his name, to recreate himself from Gregory DeMayo to Greg Universe, to become his own man. 

 

Yet just because he left an old life behind him didn’t mean that he’d abandoned everything he was. Despite his estrangement from his family, Greg had told Rose how important the traditions he grew up with still were to him, and Rose had reassured him that they should become important to Steven, too. And so Greg walked away from the family’s Rabbi Rose when he said Steven would not even be considered Jewish since Rose never converted, and found Rabbi Pérez instead, and she confirmed his identity. He had called for the mohel after Steven was born (leading to a very awkward conversation regarding the gemstone on Steven’s navel). He sent Steven to Rabbi Pérez every so often for Hebrew school to learn the blessings, so he would one day be ready to become a bar mitzvah. 

 

Greg wasn’t a stern guy. He never even kept kosher himself. But certain things were still important to him. Whenever Hanukkah came around, he was fine with the gift-giving, he even enjoyed it, finding a small gift each night to make Steven’s holiday a little brighter. But the one thing he would not budge on was the Christmas tree.

 

Pearl tried to protest again, telling him, “It’s just a tree.”

 

“Listen, you guys,” said Greg, picking up Steven in his arms, “I know everything we humans do must seem weird, silly, or even unimportant to you. But Rose listened to me when I told her I wanted to share certain things with Steven. You guys were rebels, right? If you bothered to learn more about this holiday, you might find you could appreciate it a little. My people have fought a lot, too, and the war this holiday’s built on was about keeping our identity, even in the face of an enemy much bigger than us. A lot’s happened since then, but the point is, if I let Steven have his own Christmas tree, it goes against the very message of the holiday, and he’ll lose that part of himself.” He was already afraid to lose Steven to the Gem side. He couldn’t lose him on the human side, too.

 

After all that Greg had sacrificed to be his own person, to follow his dreams, it had cost him a lot. Sometimes, especially on lonely nights, he regretted a lot of it. He missed his parents, even his extended family. But that was complicated. Gregory DeMayo was a complicated man. Greg Universe didn’t have to be. But he still had those warm memories from childhood: the oily residue left on his fingers after he pulled a latke out of the pan even as his mother was frying them, how much his stomach ached when he stuffed himself full of gelt, and the pleasant, calming feeling he got just watching as wax from the candles melted while the night went on. He wanted Steven to have at least a few of those memories, too. 

 

“You don’t have to worry, Greg,” Garnet finally spoke up. “We agreed with Rose’s decision to defer to you on matters concerning Steven’s human needs. And if you say no tree, then we won’t have a tree.” Greg smiled at Garnet’s understanding, and she simply gave him a nod.

 

When Greg took Steven out for jelly donuts at the newly-opened store, The Big Donut, the boy’s spirits still hadn’t lifted. It made Greg feel like the bad guy, and he knew his son wouldn’t understand at his age, because _he_ hadn’t understood at that age, either. When a boy was five, all he cared about was that the big Christmas tree at Fun Land was bright and colorful and wondrous in a way his father’s old menorah he pulled out of storage that time every year wasn’t. Even Greg’s gift to him of a pair of fuzzy cat slippers didn’t make the Christmas envy go away.

 

So Greg couldn’t help but feel defeated when he drove Steven back to the temple base that night, like he had somehow failed. He didn’t even register at first how the boy’s eyes lit up like stars when the van pulled in, until Steven excitedly called out, “Dad, Dad, look! Oh my gosh!”

 

He had to do a double-take and wipe his eyes just to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. But Greg’s eyes didn’t deceive him. When he and Steven got out of the van, the boy running ahead with a smile spread ear to ear, there were Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, standing in front of a big, metal menorah they had constructed on the beach in front of the house. With a laugh, Greg rubbed the back of his head and stumbled over his words. “Wow!” he exclaimed. “When did you guys do this?”

 

“It was Garnet’s idea,” explained Amethyst, a big self-satisfied grin across her face as she elbowed the Crystal Gem leader. Beside her, Garnet gave Greg a thumb’s up. “We felt like big jerks when you left, and she said this would make up for it. So does it?”

 

Pearl raised a finger and added, “It’s fully operational, too.”

 

“Aww, you guys didn’t have to do that,” Greg said, but just the sight of it made him forget how bad he felt for taking Steven’s Christmas tree away from him. His son had certainly forgot about it, with the way he was jumping up and down with excitement, much the same way Greg used to when he was young and his parents brought out the menorah each winter. He had to wipe away a tear from his cheek, almost overwhelmed with emotion, knowing that Steven was going to remember this forever and look back fondly on it. “Thanks,” he said to the Crystal Gems. 


End file.
